“Ugh, this is bad…”
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
After the birthday live broadcast ended, on my way home, I showed Suzuha Koga the situation I was facing.
[Missed Calls: 53]
“Ugh, Mom and Yuyika are calling me a lot…”
I hadn’t checked yet, but Yuyika had sent over a hundred messages.
They must have sent those while I collapsed midway, for sure…
Because Yuyika said she would come home today to watch my live broadcast with Mom.
“Do they… know that Izumi stayed up all night preparing?”
“They, they might not know…”
Of course, I honestly told them on the broadcast that I stayed up all night preparing illustrations, so they probably know now.
“Umm… this time, it’s Izumi’s fault, so I guess there’s no helping it if you get scolded…”
“Ugh.”
No way.
I’ve never seen Yuyika angry, but I can’t even imagine Mom getting mad…
Just the thought of it is terrible.
Before the memories of my previous life returned, whenever I did something wrong as a child, it was always Mom who scolded me, not Dad, and it was frightening enough to make me cry every time.
Of course, now that I’m an adult, I wouldn’t cry from getting scolded a bit, but remembering those childhood memories makes the tension creep in as if it were natural.
[Kayanoh Yuki: Are you okay, Mina?]
[Kayanoh Yuki: Nothing happened, right? (｡•́︿•̀｡)]
[Kayanoh Yuki: If you see this, make sure to contact Mom or Yuyika right away.]
Fortunately, in the lines I sneakily checked, there were no stories of Mom being angry; they were just normal messages expressing worry for me.
[Kayanoh Mina: I’m fine. I’m on my way home! (≧∀≦ゞ]
[Kayanoh Yuki: Got it. See you in a bit! I’ll be waiting with the cake. (･ω･)b]
Yuyika’s reply… was incredibly fast.
She’s just as fast or even faster than Suzuha Koga.
Was she watching the LINE screen continuously because she was worried?
“I’ve arrived, Izumi.”
“Th-thank you. Uh, Suzuha, would you like to have dinner at home with us? Yuyika said she prepared a c-cake…”
“No, it’s really appreciated, but we had lunch together, so you should spend time with your family for dinner.”
As Suzuha said this, she gently patted my head.
She felt mature, but honestly, she looked younger than me, which made me laugh.
“Hah?!”
“Ah, goodbye! See you next time!”
Before Suzuha could tighten her grip on my hand, I quickly pulled it away and jumped out of the car.
How did she just figure out what I was thinking…?
Normally, wouldn’t people think I’d just be happy and smiling?
So scary…
“Kayanoh!”
“…Yes?”
When I turned around at the call, Suzuha was waving through the open window.
“Happy eighteenth birthday! And please take care of me from now on!”
“I-I’ll take care of you too, Yuyika!”
That was the last conversation before Suzuha left.
And I stood in front of the front door, catching my breath.
Since there’s no talk about Mom being angry in the LINE messages… let’s not get nervous.
It’ll be fine. Today’s my birthday. I’m the protagonist!
Repeating this in my head, I opened the front door.
“I’m home…”
“Welcome back, Mina.”
Fortunately, it was Yuyika who greeted me.
Mom… is she in the kitchen cooking?
“Where’s Mom?”
“She’s waiting in the kitchen. And are you really okay?”
“Ah, yes. I’m really fine, so you don’t have to worry.”
“That’s a relief. I was really surprised watching the broadcast earlier.”
“Bweee…”
As Yuyika said this, she grabbed my cheeks and pulled them to the sides.
“…You can’t push yourself like that next time, okay?”
“Yeeees…”
I’m really reflecting on my actions, so you don’t need to worry about me.
Seeing that look on my face, Yuyika released my cheeks and chuckled.
“Now, let’s go in.”
“Yes!”
Following Yuyika’s lead, I saw the table set with dishes that looked delicious even just to look at.
“Mina… after you wash up, how about talking with Mom for a bit?”
The demon lord… I mean, Mom was waiting for me.
“Ugh… I don’t think there’s anything wrong with working hard at what you’re doing. But you know, it’s wrong to do that while harming your health, right?”
“Yes…”
“I think it’s okay to do that for a day, but doing it for over a week is absolutely not okay. If something like that happens again next time… as Mom, all I can do is tell you to quit being a VTuber.”
“Ah, I promise I won’t do it again!”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that.”
Getting scolded by Mom… is really frightening.
Mom generally doesn’t express her emotions well, so even when scolding me, she remains expressionless, and that is incredibly scary.
It makes me want to sincerely apologize.
Well, I mean, I really did do something wrong…
“Now, let’s eat. Mina, happy eighteenth birthday!”
“Happy birthday, Mina.”
“…Yes!”
“Dry your tears.”
Ah, I wasn’t crying, though.
Really.
★
[【Membership Exclusive】Post-Birthday Party Live Broadcast! Let’s all hang out! #KainohIzumi#StarsFlow]
“So, um… I just got a bunch of scolding from Mom… ”
-At first, I thought it was all an act.
-If you push yourself too hard, there’s no choice but to worry.
After I collapsed during the live broadcast earlier, an overwhelming amount of concern poured in from the Izutomo as soon as I turned the broadcast back on.
“I really… I feel so sorry to everyone. I promise this won’t happen again…”
-Doing the broadcast while being healthy is my first wish.
-If Mei-chan is sick, I’m sick too.
“Uh, either way, let’s keep the heavy talk here! Does anyone have any questions?”
-I wonder if there are any fun stories like the cola order from last year…
“Cola order? Ah…”
Now that I think about it, that did happen last year on my birthday.
Unfortunately?
No, it wasn’t unfortunate, but there weren’t really any special events this year.
We just gathered and had dinner.
I still don’t understand why that cola order episode became so famous.
It’s perfectly normal to feel awkward talking to someone you don’t know.
“Unfortunately, this year, it was just a regular dinner…”
-But what does it mean to call you ‘Nuna’ in the last letter?
“Huh? Well, it’s literally what it means…”
Kainoh Izumi is now an eighteen-year-old high school student, but at the same time, a Water Avatar.
She’s a being beyond the essence of age.
…Actually, I wrote that sentence out of excitement for becoming an adult.
Anyway, in terms of RP, it’s not strange for the Izutomo to call me ‘Nuna’.
“Now that I’m an adult, can you, uh, try calling me ‘Izumi Nuna’…!”
“Hah?”
-Making Mei-chan call me ‘Nuna’ is seriously pushing it.
-If Mei-chan calls me ‘Oppa’, I might consider it.
And of course, there were no Izutomo willing to grant my wish.
“It’s my birthday… Can’t I get just this much?!”
-If we’re counting ages, I’m not a Nuna but a grandma.
-Maybe I could get away with calling you grandma.
“Hah?! D-don’t joke around! What do you mean by calling an actual JK?!!”
-The one who brought up age was Mei-chan first.
-Grandma Izumi…
Where did all those kind Izutomo who were just worried about me go?
Are you guys two-faced or something?
Once you’re sweet, be sweet until the end!
“…Well, that’s probably why I can’t do even this basic thing, huh, you know, a complete otaku!”
-Hah?
-Do you want to start something?
-No matter how much it’s my birthday, some words can’t be forgiven.
-Kuso-gaki.
-The one saying that is an otaku too.
-You think you’re safe just because you decorate your DMs with Nanase’s pic?
“Th-that, talking about frames is off-limits!”
I’m still getting teased about that once in a while…
-But Mei-chan brought it up first.
-The ultra-influencer (can’t even order cola).
-Mei-chan: I prefer Chino-chan over Natsune-chan.
Once that happened, the Izutomo started pulling out all my embarrassing stories from the past.
Why? Why?!
Isn’t today my birthday?!
Even though there was an incident during the live broadcast, wasn’t it good?!
So why do I have to suffer through this?!
“This is too much…”
I feel like I’m about to despair at the fact that all I encounter are abusive otaku….
Regardless, after my tour of humiliation ended, we redirected the topic back to the earlier live broadcast.
Of course, my mental state was already a mess, but I really appreciate the Izutomo who stopped when I sincerely asked them to.
“In this live broadcast, you know? I was practicing the choreography with Natsune, and Natsune smelled so good that I thought… idols really are something, right?”
-That’s kind of gross.
-That’s some disgusting talk for an otaku, lol.
-You’re the last person who should be talking about value love.
“…A, anyway! I’m an ultra cute JK, so if I get told something like that, it’s perfectly fine!”
More than anything, this has nothing to do with value love!
-So, was Mei-chan happy with this live broadcast?
And before we wrapped up the broadcast, the last question came in.
“W-was it fun?”
I gave that question some serious thought.
I suddenly had to push myself because of the illustrations, and it’s obviously impossible to neglect school life, and on the day of the live, I almost passed out, causing a big stir.
Honestly, to put it bluntly, it was incredibly tiring and hard.
Yet still, I could proudly say:
“…It was super fun!”
Even the tiring and hard parts, I enjoyed because you were all there.
I could say this with genuine joy.
So, um, I hope you all ease up on me a bit now…
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